HANCEVILLE, Ala. – We wrapped up day two of this year’s county basketball tournament with a varsity girls’ matchup between (5) Holly Pond and (4) Fairview and points were not easy to come by in this one. The Lady Broncos went into the locker room with a 15-14 lead at halftime and the score was still knotted at 33 at the end of regulation. However, overtime belonged to Fairview as the Lady Aggies managed to pull away and secure their spot in the semifinals with a 43-36 win.
Maggie Nail and Darby Nichols exchanged free throws to start the game tied at 1 and Whitney Quick knocked down her first four attempts from the line to give Fairview a 5-1 lead. Baskets from Sadie Nail and Ava Thomas tied the game at 5 later in the period but Peyton Defoor drained a three to put the Lady Aggies back in front 8-5. Thomas scored on the other end to cut the lead to 8-7 but Nichols split a pair of free throws in the final seconds of the first to give Fairview a 10-7 lead at the start of the second.
Baskets by Millie McBee and Thomas put Holly Pond ahead 11-10 early in the second quarter and Thomas added a pair of free throws to stretch the lead to 13-10. Quick drained a free throw and a three-pointer to reclaim a 14-13 lead for Fairview later in the second but Maggie Nail laid one in just before the buzzer to send the Lady Broncos to the locker room with a 15-14 lead.
Alexis Golden and Davi Stidham each scored early in the third to give Fairview an 18-15 lead and Nichols and McBee exchanged free throws to make it a 19-16 game midway through the period. Golden buried a three to make it 22-16 and after Sadie Nail and McBee responded with free throws on the other end, Nichols drilled a three just before the end of the third to keep the Lady Aggies in front 25-20 going into the fourth.
McBee and Nichols exchanged buckets early in the fourth quarter to make it a 27-22 game and Kailyn Redding laid one in to keep Fairview ahead by 7. McBee scored to cut the lead to 29-24 midway through the period and after another Redding basket on the other end, Thomas sank a pair of free throws to make it 31-26 with just over three minutes to play. Maggie Nail and Thomas both scored off turnovers with two minutes remaining to cut the lead to 31-30 and on the next Bronco possession, Butts drilled a huge three to tie the game at 33 with 1:30 on the clock. Neither team was able to come up with the winning bucket in the final minute of regulation and we went to overtime knotted at 33.
Stidham finished an and-one play at the line to put the Lady Aggies ahead 36-33 early in OT but Sadie Nail drained a pair of free throws on the other end to make it a 1-point game. Quick sank a pair from the line to give Fairview a 38-35 lead and with just over a minute remaining in the overtime period, Redding drove to the basket and scored to make it a 41-36 game. Holly Pond was unable to answer the late push from the Lady Aggies and Fairview secured its spot in the semifinals with a 43-36 win over the Lady Broncos.
Quick led the way for Fairview with 12 points in the win, followed by Nichols with nine and Redding with seven. Thomas led Holly Pond with nine points in the loss and McBee added nine.
The Lady Aggies will be back on the court to face top-seeded Good Hope Thursday at 6:15 p.m.
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